may_18__1977.html

PIX #1 - Risingsun
Stop - A TF&F car is shown at the Risingsun stop on its way to Toledo.
The electric line was adjacent to the steam line tracks.

PIX #2 - Main
Street Bridge - An interurban car is shown crossing the Main Street
bridge across the Blanchard River in Findlay.

PIX #3 - Powerhouse
- The interurban station and powerhouse is shown at Leipsic.

EDITOR'S NOTE:
This is the last installment in a series of three about the eletric
interurban era as it existed in Fostoria and surrounding areas. If readers
have additional data or photos they would like to donate to the editor's
file on this subject, please write c/o Review Times.

In addition to
the passenger traffic, the electric lines hauled a lot of freight. Some
of the passenger cars had a baggage area to accommodate freight. There
were alos strictly freight cars.

Piggyback service,
prevalent in today's railroad system, was in use when the electric lines
existed. They too had large shipping containers that were slid onto
flatbed cars and moved from town to town.

It took a lot
of people to operate the interurbans. On the TF&F line, in addition
to E. Smith as general manager, there was Ross Ewan, accountant; John
Mitchell and Rollie Ford, master mechanics; Miss Buschman (later Mrs.
Fred Trudal) bookkeeper; Frank Kinker and Maurice Gray, freight agents;
Earl Mitchell, motor repairman.

The only names
I have been able to uncover for the FF&F are Harry Frankenfield, Bert
Zimmerman, Roy Shoupe, all of which were either motormen or conductors.

On the old TF&E,
I distinctly remember Mr. Corregan, who was conductor, and there was
a Mr. Glick who served as motorman.

There are probably
many more names that could be associated with the three electric lines
that served Fostoria, but at this point in time it is extemely difficult
to collect them.

Of all those men
who were employed by the TF&F, only seven are still living as far as
it has been determined...they are Ray Henline, Denver House, Otto Crow,
Clarence Vanderhoff, Orin Goodman, "Pat" and "Mike" Smith.

Esther Wendt reminded
me that it was not all glamour for the conductors and motormen...they
worked 10 hours a day; seven days a week. Also, they had to walk to
the car barns on Findlay Road to start their daily runs.

"On the other
hand", she said, "they were often rewarded by country folks along the
line for dropping off town purchases as they passed by...a dressed chicken
or fresh vegetables".

Mrs. Wendt's father,
John Comer, started for the TF&E. He helped build the line as well as
tear it up. He also worked for the TF&F.

Looking back on
that era, and at the usefulness of the electric lines, it seems that
they should have existed longer. But according to the data, and the
fact that by approximately 1930 they were "gone", is strong evidence
that they could not maintain the competitive position they had initially.

Some of the investors
in the electric lines poured additional capital into the systems to
make a last ditch stand. They put on bigger and better cars. Some of
them equipped their lines with cars that had "parlor" areas, in which
there were overstuffed davenports and lounge chairs, similiar to those
in club-cars on the steam lines.

Sleeping compartments,
with baths, were also installed on some cars, for longer runs...like
from points in Ohio to Indianapolis. But the riders complained that
the noise of the motors and the motion of the cars kept them from sleeping,
so that innovation didn't last long, or bolster the sagging popularity.

By 1930, the electric
lines were nearly all defunct. Some car manufacturers had to accept
return of the products, since they were not totally paid for. Some of
the electric lines were able to dispose of cars by selling them to cities
who still operated lines within their own boundaries. The older wooden
cars were sold for small sums...$50 to $200...for farm buildings, diners,
houses, etc.

One Ohio line
sold some of their cars to the company operating the system betweeen
St. Louis and Peoria, Ill. ack in 1942, when I was traveling for the
Fostoria Pressed Steel Corp., I was in St. Louis and wanted to get to
Peoria. I learned about the electric line between the two cities and
made the trip, not realizing then I would be writing about the experience.
At that time the line ran two cars on each run...one for freight and
baggage and the other for passengers. the passenger car had a dining
area in one end ...but with the constant sway of the car it was extremely
difficult to eat my pork chop dinner. The car attendant was conductor,
cook, and generalisimo. What a ride...at speeds I am sure were 60-80
miles per hour.

I'll tell you
where the three electric lines ran on the Fostoria streets, just in
case you are newcomers, too young to remember or have forgotten.

The TF&F came
from Findlay alongside Ohio 12 (Findlay Road further in on Findlay street
and turned onto Fourth Street) proceeding to South Main where it turned
north, crossed the B&O and Nickel Plate railroad tracks and proceeded
to the interurban station. Going north to Toledo it proceeded north
on Main to Perry, then north on Union. The first stop north was Longley,
a village that existed where the C&O railroad tracks now cross U.S.
23.

The TF&E came
all the way into town on Columbus Avenue, then turned onto East Tiffin
Street and proceeded South.

The F&F used the
tracks of the TF&F on its way into Fostoria from Findlay. Going toward
Fremont the tracks branched off at Sandusky Street and proceeded eastward
along Ohio 12.

Ray Coburn, a
former Fostoria mayor, was in charge of a work crew that functioned
during the depression days in the 1930's when the Federal Government's
WPA program was in effect. He remembers supervising the removal of the
rails from Fostoria's streets after all the electric lines had gone
out of business.

Unfortunately,
there are many things that should have been recorded pictorially about
the electric car era in Fostoria but weren't.

Harry Christiansen's
book "Ohio Trolley Trails" records many photos and much more data than
this story.